Prevalence and morphological variability of torus palatanus and torus mandibularis

Background: The oral tori are non-pathological and benign exostosis of the cortical and limited amount of bone marrow, covered with a thin and poorly vascularized mucosa. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of torus palatanus (TP) and torus mandibularis (TM) and to define morphological variability in relation to age and gender in the population of Shtip region, Macedonia FYR. Methods and materials: The study comprised of 467 patients, 242 females and 225 males, from 20 years old and onwards who were examined by clinical examination and analysis of the plaster casts. Results: Torus palatinus was found in 10.9% subjects and torus mandibularis in 9.6% of the subjects. The torus palatinus was well developed in 48.4 % of the individuals, nodular form and its more frequent location was in the middle palate. The most frequent type of torus mandibularis was bilateral solitary torus mandibularis (32.4%). The results of this study show significantly higher prevalence of torus palatinus and torus mandibularis in the male subjects. Conclusion: The results of this study show significantly relationship between the occurrence of tori and gender and although not significant, there is a trend towards higher prevalence of TP and TM with increasing age